Angel Investigations
by Jean17
Summary: What if Buffy never left California after the battle with the First? This is my take on it.
1. chapter1

"Where are we going to go Giles?" They were back on the bus heading to the nearest town with a hospital. They had to get the girls and Robin fixed up. A couple of them were in pretty bad shape. Giles and Buffy sat in the back of the bus as Faith took her turn at the wheel. They had only thought so far ahead as the hospital. It was a little over-whelming having freedom from the hell-mouth. No one knew where he or she wanted to go. Buffy knew that some of the girls didn't have homes to return to and that she was responsible for them now. So where would they go?

The bus continued down the road in silence carrying them toward a new destiny.

Four Weeks Later

"Are you sure this is the place Willow? It looks deserted." Buffy was looking at he Hyperion from across the street concerned. They had come to see if they could stay with Angle for a while but the place looked empty. What could have happened to him? "This is it, but where did everyone go?" Willow stood beside her friend looking out the window of the bus. "I don't know but I'm going over there to see if anyone's home." Buffy got off the bus and headed across the street. She didn't even look back when Faith joined her. Faith had as much a reason to be concerned about Angle as she did.

Inside it was dark and dusty. The lights had been shut off and it looked as if no one had been there for weeks. The two slayers went through the files that had been left out but they could find no clue as to where Angle or the rest of the team had gone. They couldn't find anyone there. They went back to the bus even more worried then when they had left it.

"Angle's not home but we're staying here for the mean time. We need someplace to stay and it's empty. Besides we need to find Angle now, something's wrong. Every one gets a room on the second floor I don't want us to be spread to far apart." Xander pulled the bus up in front of the hotel and parked it. The girls had rooms picked out in no time and every one met back in the lobby. While the girls had been upstairs the rest of them had come to a decision. Giles stood in front of the group of young slayers and spoke, "I'm sure that by now you have all noticed the condition this place is in. For tonight we'll have to make due, but in the morning we need to get our rooms and the lobby cleaned up. I will take care of the offices with the help of Willow and Dawn. We need an income so until we can find Angle, who seems to have gone missing, we will take over Angle Investigations. In the morning I'll see about getting the utilities turned back on. Try to get some sleep tonight." Although everyone was tired they were too excited to sleep, no one managed to sleep the whole night.


	2. chapter2

"Well that takes care of the cleaning. The place looks pretty spiffy now." Willow stripped off her rubber gloves and looked around. The place was spotless. Just then Giles walked in the front door with Dawn and Rona. "One exorcism completed. And we got our first paycheck." Dawn seemed really excited about it. The rest of the slayers gathered around to hear what happened. While Rona and Dawn filled them in on the details Giles went to talk to Willow. "Is she back yet?" Giles was talking about Buffy. She had left the morning after they got there to look for leads. "She stopped in for a shower but she left again. She took Faith with her this time. I wouldn't worry too much yet, she just really wants to find Angle."

Giles left the girls in the lobby and went upstairs to check on Xander and Robin to make sure they hadn't killed Andrew. He walked down a couple halls and finally found the room they were working on. "How's it going in here?" Xander looked up from what he was doing and answered "This is the third room we've had to fix windows and holes in the walls. There's one that I want to save for when we have more money. It has a huge hole in the floor. Other than that we're doing good so far. Materials for repairs are going to cost a pretty penny. How did the exorcism go?" "It went ok just a routine casting out. We're going to have to take on as many cases as we can to get this place up and running again. You've done a good job with what we have but repairs for the rest of the hotel will have to wait until bills are paid first." Xander just nodded knowing that they were in a tight spot. He turned around and went back to work. "Andrew don't touch the power tools!"

A little later Giles was back at the books looking at the past income. It looked like Angle had managed to barely level out most of the time. There were a few times where the case was big enough to bring in a couple thousand but it really didn't help in the long run. They didn't touch the college fund setup in Connor's name. No one knew who he was but Faith and Willow, and they wouldn't tell. In any case money was tight and not all of the slayers could help out on cases because of school. Buffy and Faith hadn't found Angle yet and they wouldn't stop until they did. That meant actual investigating and exorcisms could be done during the week after school but vampire and demon nests had to wait for the weekend when the other slayers could help. It was odd that they hadn't found a clue as to where Angle might be yet. But in a city the size of LA it would probably take weeks to find him. Looking back at the books and the pile of bills on his desk Giles sighed and started to plan a budget hoping they really wouldn't need it.

Three Weeks after That

Dawn was in the kitchen eating a sandwich when it came on the news and about scared her out of her wits. She went running up the stairs as fast as she could, "Giles flip the TV to channel five." Giles watched in shock as a rouge slayer killed two pedestrians and escaped the police. "The young woman was identified as the patient who escaped from St. Brewsters Psychiatric center this morning. Diana is armed and dangerous, should you see her call the police immediately." Giles switched the TV off and picked up the phone hoping that Buffy would answer the phone. "Hello?" "Buffy thank God, listen we've got a major crisis." "Is it Dawn I'll be right there." "No it's not Dawn in fact she's standing next to me. A slayer is killing people down town. It's not one of our girls, she escaped from a psychiatric facility this morning and I think she's gone off the deep end. I might have a couple theories I'm going to go to the hospital and investigate. You just find her, restrain her if you have to but don't kill her. Actually bring her back to the hotel if you can. If I'm not back put her in the cage in the basement."

"Dawn watch the phones, if it's an emergency send the girls out in teams of two otherwise take messages." Giles put his coat on and left the hotel. At the hospital he went through her files and started watching the tapes of her sessions. Daine spoke in a succession of languages that astounded Giles; Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Russian, Spanish, Mongolian, Romanian, the list kept going; it was amazing. It turned out that she was having dreams about slayers witch normally wouldn't drive a person insane but coupled with the trauma from her early child hood and now having slayer strength she was out of control. She thought she was every one of the past slayers. He thanked the receptionist and went back to the hotel. It would take a lot of time to get her to calm down let alone back to normal but he wanted to help her.

Buffy got off the phone with Giles and looked behind her at Faith. "He's not talking, put him down. That was Giles, something important in going down we can come back for this sleaze bag." "Only if I get to hit him again when we get back." "I don't see a problem with that at all." Faith dropped the guy on the floor and they both left the empty club. "So what's going on that we have to leave our only lead." "There's a crazy slayer killing people down town." They got into Angle's car and Faith drove them to the grocery store that she had last been sighted in. From there they tracked her on foot.

"She knows we're following her." "Well she does have slayer senses B. What I want to know is who else is tracking her." They had spotted some one else a couple of times but they never got a good look at him. They were almost on her when they heard a fight around the corner. They ran in to a building following the sounds to the basement. They went to see what was happening and stopped in their tracks when they saw her. She had Spike chained up and was injecting him with something. "Yellow makes you weak. Brown makes you sleepy." "Any idea what's going on B.?" "Not a clue. Giles said not to kill her so we should probably knock her out and chain her up in the back seat. We can dump Spike in the trunk." "Ooh B's not to happy with her ex honey." Buffy just glared at Faith for a second before heading toward the girl who still hadn't noticed their presence. She knelt down next to her and spoke in a soft voice; "I love what you did to Spike. Chains really suit him." Daine looked up at her and smiled before speaking in Swahili. Of course Buffy just smiled and nodded not knowing what the younger girl was saying.

Daine stood up and backhanded Buffy then launched herself at Faith. Faith and Daine traded kicks and punches furiously as Buffy watched from the ground winded from the unexpected attack. Slowly she got up and regaining her balance joined the fray. Five minutes and several broken ribs later Daine was tied securely in the back seat. Faith drove them back to the hotel and helped Buffy up the steps. "You wait here I'll get Rona and Amanda to help me carry her in." Dawn who had been behind the counter rushed over and immediately started questioning her sister. "Not now, I'm having a hard time breathing. Just get Giles." Giles came running out of his office followed by Dawn and reached Buffy as she blacked out.


	3. chapter3

Two days later Buffy was still confined to bed. It about drove her nuts not being able to move. She could breath now, which was a relief, but her ribs were still mending and she had to stay still for a couple more days. Faith had gone back out after spending the night to continue following their leads. As far as she knew Spike was still out of it and Diana had gone into withdrawal from the drugs the hospital had kept her on. During the fight Buffy had accidentally hit the wrong brunet and they had both kicked her at the same time breaking her ribs and sending her into a wall. Bed rest Buffy slowly started to go insane from Dawn's constant attention. So after a whole hour of incessant worry and questions, Buffy finally kicked Dawn out. Settling back into the pillows she resigned herself to spending at least thirty-six more hours in bed and grabbed the remote in hopes that she could stave off boredom for a couple hours.

Downstairs Giles rubbed his eyes grabbed his fresh cup of coffee and headed back to the basement. Normally he drank tea but three days without sleep called for something a little stronger. The drugs in Spike's system had worn off and they would be able to find out where he had been soon. As far as Daine was concerned he wasn't sure of the prognosis. She had gone into withdrawal from the drugs she had been on for half of her life and it looked like another day before they were completely out of her system. She had fallen into a fitful sleep a couple hours ago and he hope that she would be more clearheaded in the morning. He hoped but doubted. He settled himself into a chair and picked up one of the watcher's diaries and continued reading. They may be pompous and long-winded but knowing the past slayer's lives might help him relate to Daina. He looked at her in the cage for a second Daine moved every few seconds as she dreamed. He looked down and started reading again about Tomi, a slayer from the fifties.

The next morning Dawn started to worry. Buffy was usually ready to ream some one by now but she just sat there watching a children's show with puppets. She looked worse than she had when Faith had dragged her into the lobby of the Hyperion. Giles was on his fifth day at least with no sleep and Dawn was concerned that he would drop from exhaustion. All the worrying was starting to drive her nuts so Dawn went to check on Buffy and see if she was out of her puppet daze yet. Who knew, maybe they were all insane? Dawn went into Buffy's room and found her trying to get out of bed. She rushed over and threw Buffy back in bed and covered her with the blanket. "Where do you think your going? If I can throw you down your too weak to be out of bed." Dawn held Buffy down while she struggled then felt her forehead after she gave up. "Your fever is gone. Now if I can get Giles better we'll be doing good." Buffy was still a little muddled and tried to get out of bed again. "I have to slay the vampire puppet." Dawn wasn't taking chances now, she grabbed a rope and tied her sister to the bed. "You're still delusional Buffy and your not getting out of bed until I say otherwise."

Dawn checked on Spike then went back downstairs to talk to Willow. Only Willow was on the phone. And the snatches of conversation that Dawn caught didn't sound good. "What do you mean? You're saying that we have to take them. No you listen to me. I am up to my ears in slayers. One is missing, another is stuck in bed, and a third is insane. The only help I have here at the moment is a retired watcher who hasn't slept in a week, two watchers in training, a one eyed carpenter, and a high school principle. So you tell me what I have to do. Tell me I have to stand trial before the last remnants of the Watcher's council for helping save the world. I will definitely take the slayers who need training but I will not justify myself to you for activating the potential slayers. When does their flight get in? Do any of them speak English? Ok, that's good. How many watchers are left? Don't mess around with me. I want to know how many are active and how many I will have to call and talk into coming to LA to help me train slayers. That's not very many. Ok what about watchers that haven't been completely trained yet any of those? Still too few. We're talking about a slayer's school here, there will be slayers from around the world staying here to be trained to fight vampires and demons. Yes I'm aware that it's a lot to ask. No that's not it at all. I suggested it and I can handle it I'm just saying I could use a little help. Just a ballpark total how many active slayers out there? Ok we need to work something out so that all slayers get the proper training. And I've got several ideas as to what I'm going to do with them after they're trained. Just give me two weeks and call back I can tell you how it's going by then. Thanks, oh and don't forget to send watcher trainees when you find them. If I'm training slayers I may as well train watchers too. Yeah talk to you later." Willow hung up the phone and rubbed her head. Pierce Coffler just made her so mad sometimes. It was nuts. Only a hand full of watchers and twenty thousand slayers. That's how many they had identified so far. And that number grew hourly. She would have to start looking for potential watchers herself. They needed as many as possible. The watcher's council had been relatively small but they had only to deal with one slayer at a time. Willow looked up and saw Dawn watching her. "So Dawnie you're the top of the class so far. I've got twenty new slayers and one trainee watcher coming in on a plane tomorrow. Giles really needs some sleep but I can't convince him to go to bed. How's Buffy doing?" Dawn sighed and stopped leaning on the doorframe. She walked into the office and sat down in a chair facing Willow. Both of the girls were visibly exhausted but neither was willing to admit it yet. "Her fever is gone but she still a little nuts in my opinion. It might be the TV in her room. She was trying to get out of be so she could slay the vampire puppet." They sat in silence for a few minutes just happy for a break. But Dawn was never one to hold still for long. "I'm going down to the gym. I still haven't got that one sequence down right and I want to be able to move on tomorrow not practice the same thing for hours on end when I'm actually getting instruction from Giles." Dawn went to her room and changed into a tank top and sweat pants, tennis shoes replaced her heels and her hair went up into a ponytail.

It was amazing what Xander, Robin, And Andrew had accomplished in the time they had been here. The Hyperion was almost in working order. Most of the rooms had been repaired and they had transformed the ballroom and kitchens downstairs. Now there was a mess hall that also functioned as a classroom, and a training room. The gym was huge. One corner held gymnastics equipment, another strength training, one was just open space but it had mirrors in the walls. Dawn went to this corner and stretched before beginning her warm up. Dawn went through every sequence that Giles had taught her before moving on to the latest sequence. It was a triple kick round off that always landed her on her ass. It should have been easy by now. Two hours later she was still at it. Sometimes she thought it wasn't fair that Buffy was able to do this stuff so easily. But then she would have to remind herself that Buffy had been a gymnast and a cheerleader. Dawn had never done any physical training and that made it a little difficult to keep up with the regiment Giles had her on. She tried really hard and she had improved rapidly. She was proud of her now slightly muscular frame. But despite hours upon hours of practice some things just didn't come easily. Dawn smiled when she heard Andrew coming down the stairs. "Finally, I've been down here for hours. You warm up and then we can spar." Andrew stretched and went through his own set of sequences. He had been training with her from the beginning but because he was helping Xander all the time he was slightly behind her when it came to their physical training. "Try shifting your weight to the left after the second kick." Dawn got up off the floor and tried what Andrew had suggested. It worked! She landed on her feet and jumped for joy. She went through the sequence two more times then ran up to Andrew and nearly knocked him off his feet when she kissed him. "That was so great thank you. I could kiss you again." "Don't your sister might get mad at me. Besides I wouldn't want to kiss you back and ruin our great working relationship." Andrew continued his exercises and pretty soon they were both ready to start sparing.

Dawn and Andrew made their way over to the large red circle painted in the middle of the room. This was their sparing circle. Giles wanted them to get used to close quarters during combat incase they ever had to fight in limited space and it kept them from tearing apart the rest of the gym during a fight. Dawn jumped right in and threw a series of attacks at Andrew hoping to catch him off guard and gain an early advantage. It didn't work though Andrew just blocked everything and turned it back at her. They had spared so often that they knew what the other would do and no one gained an advantage until the end when one of them got tired. It depended on what they had done during the day and how long they had been working out usually. Even though Andrew had been carrying wood up five flights of stairs because the elevator broke down Dawn was the one that got tired first. The stress of taking care of several people who were or should have been bed ridden was taking more out of her then she realized. Andrew saw her tiring and ended it quick by kicking her legs out from under her and pinning her to the floor. "It's over so don't try to throw me off. You're tired I want you to cool down, shower and go to bed. I'll watch Buffy and Spike for a while." Dawn sighed but decided she did need a little rest. She and Andrew cooled down then headed to their rooms for showers. By the time Dawn was ready for bed Willow had finally convinced Giles to put a cot in the basement and sleep there if he wasn't going to go to his room to sleep. That night everyone slept peacefully with the exception of Faith who was still out chasing leads about Angle.


	4. chapter4

Even though he had woken early in the morning it was two in the afternoon before Spike was coherent enough to answer any questions. But then he was so thunder struck by who they sent to do the interrogating he couldn't form two words to string together. She came in looking much older then she had the last time he had seen her. She had a self-assurance almost, she was in control of herself like she had never been before. Some one had taught his 'little bit' how to fight, and while he would miss the gangling teen that had once had a crush on him, the toned confident young women standing before him was breath taking. "Hi Spike. Where have you been? You never call, you never write. You've been alive for who knows how long and you haven't bothered to call your friends. Now dose that seem fair to you?" Spike was still speechless. Dawn took her hands off her hips and pulled a chair close to the bed so she could talk to Spike on his level. It amazed her that he hadn't spoken yet, normally if you were tearing him down he would at least have a come back or defend himself but now he just sat there staring at her. Finally she lost her stern look and through herself at him. She hugged him tight and only let go after she had alternately chewed him out for leaving her and filled him in on what had been going on. When she was done Spike smiled and let out a laugh, "Things really haven't changed all that much. Buffy looking for her lover and Giles buried in his work, I expected some things to change but the only difference is the location on the map. Is Red still doing ok controlling the magic?" "Yeah she's getting better at making it do what she wants and not the other way around. Is there anything I can get you? Make no mistake I will interrogate you all night if I have to but there is no sense in being uncomfortable while I'm at it." Spike was served warm blood ten minutes later and they set off on the discussion. "I really have no idea where I was but when Angle opened the mail I was back. Unfortunately it was to haunt him. I was like chained to him I couldn't be more then four floors away and I was like a ghost couldn't touch any thing except at random, I could walk through walls though, that was fun. Anyway after a while I got better at concentrating and eventually I could be normal again. After I could get away from Angel I ran to the nearest bar got sodding drunk and started a barfight. I needed it cause hanging with Angel and his all the time was maddening. Fred is like Willow used to be, Gunn was cool I've heard until he had them mess with his head now he's all lawyerish, Cordy is in a comma in the hospital, Wesley is a pretty good fighter now but he's still the same bookish watcher type. They were all ok except no one seemed to remember why they had taken over the LA branch of Wolfram & Heart. And Angle isn't the same as he was, he's even more broody and bloody annoying. And don't get me started on Harm, still exactly the same only now she's off humans and she's Angel's secretary. Eve is the liaison to the senior partners and boy can she be a pain in everyone's arse. She never has the answers and when she does she never tells you straight out. Lorn is about the same as always I suppose, I mean I never met him or Gunn or Fred before so who knows what they were like before they were put in charge of a multi billion dollar operation but they seem ok despite it all. You should have seen the Halloween party. Fred and Wes were drunk off there asses. Angel and Eve couldn't keep their hands off each other. And Gunn was pissing all over the place. It turned out none of them were in control of them selves. Lorne had had his sleep removed and he hadn't slept for at least a month. His psychic whatever was out of control and instead of feeling what others thought he was telling them what to do unintentionally. And when he was angry he turned into this freakishly huge beast that just went nuts. He killed several of the guests, all of them demons, and it turned out ok because after that he had his sleep put back in and sanity returned. And the demons were going to attack because they thought Angel wanted to kill him but they were happy after Lorne's out burst because they love bloodshed at their parties and if there had been no sacrifice they would have beheaded the lot of us for sure. So that was that. There's a bunch of other stuff but I really want to know how you've been. How you're gettin on with big sis, where you're going to school, who taught you to fight? You know the important stuff, and you can't leave out boy stuff either."

Spike was sitting up now and out of the covers he really needed to hear what she had to say. He had gotten used to her excited chatter about everything and no one at Wolfram & Heart had been like that except Fred on occasion he was practically thirsting for girl talk. Spike was odd that way, he loved the gossip, and the way a girl would light up when she would tell you about the boy she had a crush on. Plus how else would he get the latest fashion tips? Spike thought back to what he wore before Dru turned him and shuddered. Dawn answered two of his questions easily with one sentence. "Giles is training Andrew and me as watchers, I learn the fighting and the schoolwork downstairs. You should see what Andrew, Xander and Robin have done to the place. Buffy and I are ok. She doesn't have to protect me anymore even though she still tries, and it helps her being gone all the time trying to find Angel. Her and Faith are actually close friends now. The only thing that's not ok right now is Buffy being hurt. She's confined to her bed until her ribs are mended and she's been on every one to leave her alone. You are the best of my patients so far. Buffy's being her normal bitchy self, Diana, the slayer, hasn't woken up, Willow won't let herself rest because there's so much to do before the slayers get here, and Giles hasn't slept for a week. I think Willow finally got him to bed last night. Oh I didn't tell you! A couple of watchers are left and they're looking to start a new council only this time its different. Especially since Giles and Willow get to be in charge. Watchers still learn all the bookwork that they had to before but now they have more combat training. Andrew and me have been working on speed and strength. The watchers had to be able to train the slayers before but now they have to be able to keep up with them to a point. And no more funky tests like the one when Buffy turned eighteen. Plus the slayers get to learn some of the watcher stuff. Like at least one other language and the more common demon species. That way if they don't have a watcher they can still fight demons. Since most of the watchers got blown up only a few are left and there are more slayers out there then anyone realized. So the school is going to be for slayers watchers and magic users. Or something like that. We're training other people to save the world on a regular basis. After they complete their training the slayers with families will go home and we'll try to get custody of the underage girls with no homes. The ones who stay on for additional training will later be sent to guard hell mouths. Not alone but we'll probably send two slayers a watcher and a witch or warlock. It really depends on the situation I suppose. The first batch comes in today, this is like a trial run. They want to get it right before they except more students and before more schools are set up. Right now after were done their thinking of seven schools, one on every continent except Antarctica and a second in Asia, maybe even a second in the U.S. I just want to fight I was disappointed not being a slayer. But I'm glad Amanda is. If I had my choice I would want to work with her. I don't know where they would send me if they did assign me to a slayer or two. How many slayers you're assigned to depends on if they get along and where you're going and all that. A lot of watchers will have a second or third just because there are so many slayers and watchers will take longer to train then the slayers. I don't think the girls from Sunnydale will need watchers. And things between watcher and Slayer will be different this time. The watcher still watches and guides and trains but they don't give orders. Did you meet Kendra? She was all about the rules and the slayer handbook and the volumes and volumes of texts. She was submissive and she never looked at boys she was so shy. She turned to her watcher for orders about everything. Buffy broke her of a couple things but she was still the way she was trained to be. It should work out, at least we hope it will. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I want to meet the watcher trainees and see if I'm really watcher material or if Giles just used it as an excuse to get me to train. I can't help thinking that he just wanted me to help Andrew. I really don't know but I've always been the one without a say or something to contribute so now that I will have my say I don't know if I can do it. I'm just so uncertain of how it will turn out. I love the training and the books but if it came to life and death decisions I would probably shut down. It's confusing but I'm going to work it out it may just take some time. Listen to me babble.

"There was something else you wanted to know? What was it? Oh boys! Nothing really. I mean I don't have a boyfriend, all of the guys that live here either have no interest in me, are way to old, or already attached. No wonder most of the slayers are turning gay they have no boys! You should see it when we ordered out this one time. I think they scarred the daylights out of the pizza boy. They wouldn't let him leave. You know actually I found that quite funny, Giles said we would never order pizza again. No boys for Dawn though. But there are several cute guys in this city. There's this one he's kind of brainy but he is so hot! I met him in the campus library at Stanford. Giles sent me there to get a book but he kept calling the guy and asking for more and by time I got there the guy had a huge stack of books. So I finally get them all in my arms and would you know it I turn around and practically knock Conner off his feet. That's his name. So he helped me carry all the books to the car and I got his name but I haven't looked him up in the phone book yet. What am I going to say 'Hey it's the girl who almost killed you with books about Demon anthropology do you want to go get coffee sometime?'" Dawn looked at her watch and gasped she had spent several hours with Spike and the new slayers were due to arrive anytime. "I've got to go. I'll see you later." She jumped out of her chair and rushed from the room.


End file.
